What is Elizabeth Warren up to?
She’s made some big changes.
And pundits are asking some important questions.
Elizabeth Warren is not known for her media appearances.
She’s not a fixture on the Sunday shows.
And she normally avoids interactions with reporters.
But ahead of her re-election she is stepping up her media profile.
Politico reports:
“Elizabeth Warren’s creative media-dodging habits are a running joke among her home-state press corps. Whenever the senator makes a public appearance, Massachusetts reporters know to keep one eye fixed on the exit doors.
But that might be changing.
In just the last week alone, the notoriously press-averse progressive icon held three open-to-media events back home, followed by lengthy huddles with reporters on a wide range of issues ranging from her Senate votes to Donald Trump’s wiretapping accusations to the 2020 race.
Following her most recent press availability in Worcester, she shook hands with the half-dozen assembled reporters — and even asked if everyone “got what they needed.”
In Boston and Washington, where Warren is known for being as stingy with the media on Capitol Hill as back home, the sudden thaw has political operatives questioning what’s behind the change of heart.
“I always wondered why she wasn’t more accommodating to the press. You can be combative, it can be confrontational, but it’s always a long-term much better strategy to engage with the press,” said Democratic strategist Scott Ferson. “It’s not as if she has to be concerned about engagement with the press. She’s good on her feet.”
Yet you wouldn’t know it from some of Warren’s inventive attempts to evade the media. In addition to standard refusals to answer questions, the senator has bolted out side doors to avoid interviews and gone to great lengths to avoid questions such as who did she vote for in the Democratic presidential primary.”
Why would Warren want to hide from the press?
She is a darling of left-wing ideologues.
And the press is made up compliant Democrats who largely worship her and would bend over backwards to give her favorable coverage.
Her change in style could have to do with a recent poll that showed she could be in trouble at home.
A WBUR poll found 46 percent of Massachusetts voters thought it was time for someone else to represent them in the Senate.
While Warren is favored to win re-election, any stumble could damage her 2020 Presidential hopes.
Even a closer than normal race would provide fodder for Democrats to look around for a stronger candidate to take on Donald Trump in 2020.
